Modern Series Episode 7:
The Long Game
The Doctor, Rose and Adam find themselves on Satellite 5 in the year
200,000, when Earth is meant to be at the forefront of a mighty galactic
empire. But something has gone wrong: humanity's development has
stalled, and the Doctor suspects that it has something to do with the
media transmissions which bombard the populace, all emanating from
Satellite 5. The answer lies on the mysterious Floor 500, abode of the
sinister Editor. But while the Doctor and Rose investigate, Adam decides
to take full advantage of the opportunity to immerse himself in the
knowledge and technology of the distant future.
Russell T Davies had been a Doctor Who fan since his childhood.
As a teenager, his discovery that most journalism was controlled by a
small number of companies fuelled an idea for a Doctor Who story
about a space station which manipulated the news. During the Eighties,
Davies entered the television industry as a graphic artist. However, he
had ambitions to write drama and decided to develop his news media idea
as a storyline submission for a four-part Doctor Who adventure.
It was rejected by the production team of the day, but the notion stuck
with Davies. When he was charged with resurrecting Doctor Who in
2003, it inspired his synopsis of the new season's seventh episode.
In his pitch document of December 8th, Davies established that the
narrative would have a purpose beyond resurrecting a thirty-year-old
story idea. This was made plain by the proposed title: “The
Companion Who Couldn't”. Davies wanted to explore what would
happen if the Doctor was joined by somebody who was ill-equipped to
travel in the TARDIS, becoming overwhelmed by the environments and
perils into which the Time Lord journeyed. This would also help
distinguish Rose Tyler as a special presence in the Doctor's life. To
this end, Davies introduced a new companion named Adam, who would board
the TARDIS at the end of episode six -- Robert Shearman's Dalek -- before demonstrating his
unsuitability in the very next story.
Season Twenty-Seven's debut episode, Rose, had been so named because it not only
introduced Rose Tyler, but was also told from her perspective. Davies
thought that “The Companion Who Couldn't” might likewise be
written entirely from Adam's point of view, and so he considered dubbing
it “Adam”. By the time he started writing the episode in
August 2004, however, the year's first production block was under way,
and Davies had had a chance to watch his stars, Christopher Eccleston
and Billie Piper, in action. Anticipating that viewers would become
enchanted with the pair, he decided to make Adam's arc just a component
of the adventure, rather than its main thrust. As such, he renamed the
episode The Long Game.
During the development of his script, Davies shifted the setting from
the year 8922 to 200,000. The middle part of Suki Macrae Cantrell's name
was an homage to his colleague, Tom MacRae, who would later write 2006's
Rise Of The Cybermen / The Age Of
Steel and 2011's The Girl Who
Waited. The reference to Bad Wolf TV was added in reference to
the story arc Davies was developing for Season Twenty-Seven, which would
revolve around the phrase “bad wolf”. Davies originally
envisaged The Long Game as a budget-conscious exercise, and he
structured some of the sets so that they could not only be employed for
several venues in the episode, but could also be reused for the season
finale -- ultimately Bad Wolf / The
Parting Of The Ways -- which would share the same setting,
albeit at a different time. As production neared, however, executive
producer Mal Young, who was preparing to leave the BBC, gave his
permission for Doctor Who to loosen its purse strings. This meant
that extra money could be spent on some elements of the story, such as
the computer-animated Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic
Maxarodenfoe.
The head “spike” originally involved the
entire cranium opening up, rather than just a forehead aperture
It was originally intended that The Long Game would be made as
part of Block Three, alongside Dalek and
episode eight, Father's Day. However,
the additional effects requirements forced the production team to
reconsider this plan. The Long Game would now be made on its own
as “Block 4A”, with the original Block Four -- episodes nine
and ten, The Empty Child / The Doctor
Dances -- relabelled “Block 4B”. This meant that
The Long Game would be directed by Brian Grant, making his only
episode of Doctor Who. Cast as the Editor was Simon Pegg, the
acclaimed writer/actor of programmes such as Spaced who had
recently starred in the hit horror-comedy film Shaun Of The Dead.
Pegg had previously been approached to play Rose's dad in Father's Day, but had been unavailable.
Unlike the other stories of Season Twenty-Seven, The Long Game
was made exclusively in the studio -- either at Doctor Who's
usual production home of Unit Q2 in Newport, or on sets erected at the
old British Telecom building in Cardiff. Work began at Unit Q2 on
November 30th, for scenes on the observation deck. The day ended with
material on the Floor 139 causeway, which remained Grant's focus until
December 3rd. After the weekend, the BT building was the venue for
footage in the Floor 500 spike room and Adam's house on December 6th.
Cast and crew returned to Unit Q2 on the 7th, for sequences in the lift
and on the Floor 500 causeway. The final work at the BT facility took
place on December 8th and 9th. Further shots in Adam's house were
completed on the 8th, but the two days were otherwise dedicated to
action in the Floor 139 spike room.
Simon Pegg had enormous difficulty saying the name of the
Editor's boss
The rest of The Long Game was then recorded at Unit Q2. December
10th, 11th and 13th were devoted to the Editor's control room. For these
scenes, production designer Edward Thomas had wrapped the Floor 139 set
in polythene and covered it in a fake frost to give the impression that
it was vacuum-packed. However, when producer Phil Collinson arrived at
Unit Q2 on the morning of the 10th, he deemed the dressing to have
departed too greatly from Davies' script. Filming was delayed while the
set was modified to provide less of a contrast with Floor 139. The
monitors displayed stills from various BBC programmes, including old
episodes of Doctor Who, such as 1975's The
Ark In Space and 1980's The Leisure
Hive. Some dialogue was omitted, in which the Editor explained
that the manipulation of Satellite 5 was motivated by the threat to the
Jagrafessfold breeding grounds posed by the expansion of the Earth
Empire.
The remaining material in the control room was completed on December
14th, after which attention turned to Adam's experiences in the medical
room. Work on The Long Game then wrapped up on the 15th, which
involved shots in the control room, the lift, the Floor 16 causeway, and
Adam's house. Several trims were made in post-production, including the
elimination of Adam's suggestion that he could find a cure for his
father's arthritis in the year 200,000. Both Suki and the Doctor were
also meant to be delivered gold key cards by courier, which provided
them access to Floor 500. Nicholas Briggs, who had voiced the Nestene
Consciousness in Rose and the Dalek in
Dalek, recorded material for the
Jagrafess. However, it was felt to be too similar to the Nestene, and so
dialogue editor Paul McFadden heavily altered it to construct a new
sound profile.
- Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #11, 31st August 2005,
“Fact File: The Long Game” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing
Ltd.
- Doctor Who: The Complete History #49, 2017, “Story 162:
The Long Game”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks
Ltd.
- Doctor Who: The Inside Story by Gary Russell (2006), BBC
Books.
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Original Transmission
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Date |
7th May 2005 |
Time |
7.00pm |
Duration |
44'28" |
Viewers (more) |
8.0m (17th) |
Appreciation |
81% |
Cast
Doctor Who |
Christopher Eccleston (bio) |
Rose Tyler |
Billie Piper (bio) |
Adam |
Bruno Langley (bio) |
Head Chef |
Colin Prockter |
Cathica |
Christine Adams |
Suki |
Anna Maxwell-Martin |
The Editor |
Simon Pegg |
Nurse |
Tamsin Greig |
Adam's Mum |
Judy Holt |
Crew
Written by |
Russell T Davies (bio) |
Directed by |
Brian Grant (bio) |
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Produced by |
Phil Collinson |
1st Assistant Director |
Gareth Williams |
2nd Assistant Director |
Steffan Morris |
3rd Assistant Director |
Dan Mumford |
Location Manager |
Lowri Thomas |
Unit Manager |
Llyr Morus |
Production Co-ordinator |
Jess van Niekerk |
A/Production Accountants |
Debi Griffiths |
Kath Blackman |
Continuity |
Pam Humphreys |
Script Editor |
Elwen Rowlands |
Camera Operator |
Martin Stephens |
Focus Puller |
Mark Isaac |
Grip |
John Robinson |
Boom Operator |
Damian Richardson |
Gaffer |
Mark Hutchings |
Best Boy |
Peter Chester |
Stunt Co-ordinator |
Lee Sheward |
Art Dept Co-ordinator |
Gwenllian Llwyd |
Concept Artist |
Bryan Hitch |
Production Buyer |
Catherine Samuel |
Set Decorator |
Liz Griffiths |
Supervising Art Director |
Stephen Nicholas |
Standby Art Director |
Julian Luxton |
Property Master |
Adrian Anscombe |
Construction Manager |
Andrew Smith |
Standby Props |
Phill Shellard |
Trystan Howell |
Graphic Artist |
Jenny Bowers |
Wardrobe Supervisor |
Yolanda Peart-Smith |
Make-Up Supervisor |
Linda Davie |
Make-Up Artists |
Claire Pritchard |
Steve Williams |
Casting Associate |
Kirsty Robertson |
Assistant Editor |
Ceres Doyle |
Post Production Supervisor |
Marie Brown |
On Line Editor |
Matthew Clarke |
Colourist |
Kai van Beers |
2D VFX Artists |
David Bowman |
Simon C Holden |
Astrid Busser-Casas |
Jennifer Herbert |
Alberto Montanes |
3D VFX Artists |
Chris Petts |
Jean-Claude Deguara |
Andy Howell |
Mark Wallman |
Nick Webber |
Digital Matte Painter |
Alexander Fort |
Model Unit Supervisor |
Mike Tucker |
Dubbing Mixer |
Tim Ricketts |
Dialogue Editor |
Paul McFadden |
Sound FX Editor |
Paul Jefferies |
Picture Publicist |
Francine Holdgate |
Finance Manager |
Richard Pugsley |
Original Theme Music |
Ron Grainer |
Casting Director |
Andy Pryor CDG |
Production Accountant |
Endaf Emyr Williams |
Sound Recordist |
Ian Richardson |
Costume Designer |
Lucinda Wright |
Make-Up Designer |
Davy Jones |
Music |
Murray Gold |
Visual Effects |
The Mill |
Visual FX Producer |
Will Cohen |
Visual FX Supervisor |
Dave Houghton |
Special Effects |
MTFX |
Prosthetics |
Millennium Effects |
Editor |
John Richards |
Production Designer |
Edward Thomas |
Director of Photography |
Ernie Vincze BSC |
Production Manager |
Tracie Simpson |
Associate Producer |
Helen Vallis |
Executive Producers |
Russell T Davies (bio) |
Julie Gardner |
Mal Young |
Working Titles
The Companion Who Couldn't |
Adam |
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